Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Ian Hutchesson <mc2499 AT mclink.it>]

Ben Crick wrote:

> There may be some textual confusion between Ha`iYR the city and Ha`aY
> the ruin (Joshua 8). Bethel is not necessarily Beitin, and Ai not is
> necessarily Et-Tell. D Livingston argues cogently for Bireh to be the
> site of Bethel. The topography agrees with that of the book of Joshua,
> and one and a half miles east of Bireh is another small Tell, as yet
> unnamed and unexcavated, which could be Ai. I don't have the bibliography
> I'm afraid: it's my note from something I read about 10 years ago.

Thanks for your post, Ben.

The texts that I've been using, eg Ahlstrom's "History of Ancient Palestine"
and Liverani's "Antico Oriente" are both from 1992 seem to have no doubt
about Bethel, Ai and Jericho. Perhaps there could be a misidentification of
a site, but it is unlikely that all are wrong! And I think that, had the
place been indicated by "the city" rather than "the ruin", it would have
been difficult for it to hop from city to ruin in scribal transmission.

Just thoughts though.


Ian

> There are, of course, no convincing explanations of this conflict between
> archaeology and the Book of Joshua.

And I liked your post on the astronomical materials found in the OT/HB. It
might not be as simple as your post indicated, but I guess you can't cover
such a complex issue in one email!